We're back with another insightful episode recorded at last month's NRF "Big Show." This time our focus is on how entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market, secure venture capital funding, and fight through all the challenges to create a sustainable, remarkable business.

We're fortunate to have two great female founders join us to share their wisdom. Michelle Bacharach heads up FindMine, the AI powered company that helps consumers and brands find their best looks. Katie Hotze founded and leads Grocery Shopii, an innovative technology platform that powers digital meal planning. In a wide ranging discussion we learn about the inspiration for their companies, how they've funded and scaled them, and explore some of the unique challenges faced by founders from under-represented communities. 

But first we give our perspectives on the most remarkable retail news of the week, with a fairly deep dive into Amazon's concerning quarterly earnings report. We also give our quick takes on news about Sam's Club's expansion plans, a very strong US jobs report, Tom Kingsbury being named "permanent" CEO at Kohl's, Ryan Cohen's setting his activist sights on Nordstrom, Bed, Bath & Beyond's looming bankruptcy filing, and how Rent the Runway has kicked the debt can down the road. 

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We're headed to Las Vegas in March for another edition of Shoptalk. Retailers and brands can get a Shoptalk ticket for a reduced rate of just $1950 rate here using our special discount code RBREMARK1950.

About Michelle

Michelle is CEO and Co-Founder of FINDMINE, an award winning software platform that uses machine learning to scale product curation for the world's top retailers. As a product and strategy expert, Michelle is experienced in growing companies by launching software, apps and websites to millions of people, putting together joint ventures, and conceiving of new products. Michelle has shared her expertise with thousands of leaders in retail and technology as a speaker at SXSW, the National Retail Federations' Retail’s Big Show and Shop.org, Intel's Shift, Women in Machine Learning and Data Science, and many others.  

About Katie

Named a Top 10 Women in Grocery Tech by RIS, Katie Hotze is an innovative leader and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in digital marketing, data analytics and business strategy. 

Katie is the founder and CEO of Grocery Shopii, a Charlotte-based startup that solves a $550B problem in the CPG & Retail industry by reducing cart abandonment with machine learning. Grocery Shopii uses recipes as a recommendation engine to expedite online grocery shopping inside the shopping journey.

Prior to Grocery Shopii, Katie spent 20 years in management and technology consulting where she led global marketing teams for Mercer, the world’s largest HR consultancy, and BearingPoint. 

She holds an M.B.A. and Business Analytics certification from William & Mary, and a B.S. in Marketing from Virginia Commonwealth University. 

In 2018, Katie was a Direct Marketing News (DMN) 40-Under-40 Award Recipient. She’s also been awarded the Top Women in Grocery honor by Progressive Grocer. Today, she is a regular speaker on both digital and social media topics at conferences in the marketing and grocery retail spaces.

A resident of Charlotte, N.C., Katie is a graduate of UNC-Charlotte’s Ventureprise entrepreneurial program and is an active participant in the city’s tech community.

About Us

Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his       website.    The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book  Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at  Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a      Forbes senior contributor and on       Twitter and       LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel      here.

Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global eCommerce Leaders podcast, and The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.    You can learn more about Michael   here  or on     LinkedIn. 

Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

SPECIAL OFFER for our listeners! SAVE 20% on registration for the all new Shoptalk Luxe event in Abu Dhabi January 27-29.

For more info go to https://luxe.shoptalk.com/page/get-ticket and then register using our special code : RRLUXE20

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.